Widgy and Wedgy

I took Elliot and Jack to the hospital this afternoon for their annual allergy blood tests. As we headed out the alley towards the train, I noticed Elliot's shorts were sagging down a lot. I asked him if his pants were snapped and zipped (which they aren't most of the time.) He told me, "They are snapped and zipped. I know why they are falling down, and it's not because they aren't snapped and zipped. I forgot to put on any underwear today."

Before our trip to the hospital, we went to Magic Beans with Grammy. The boys got the presents they picked out last week. We are now the proud owners of two frogs. As soon as we picked them up at the counter, Jack took on the task of naming them. He asked the woman at the store whether they were boy frogs or girls frogs, and she told him that they are both boy frogs. So, after a little bit of serious thought, Jack settled upon Widgy and Wedgy. Jack is extremely creative, and has always been fascinated with names. So, I knew from the moment he thought of naming the frogs, that we would be in for an interesting duo. Widgy and Wedgy are actually infinitely more boring than I expected. A few months back, (when I was still pregnant with Theo and we often talked about baby names,) I found a piece of paper on the table with the following written on it:

Children:
Ryan Alex Bruntrager 16
Marie Mary Bruntrager 14
Ed Jason Bruntrager 12
Rheneas Ashley Bruntrager 9
Sandford Thomas Bruntrager 9
Zoe Hanna Bruntrager 8
Benjamin Xavier Bruntrager 6
Lizzy Penelope Bruntrager 4
Jim Martin Bruntrager 2
Cheyenne Ellen Bruntrager 2
Harvey Berliosz Bruntrager 1
Quincy Allen Bruntrager 0

Mom-Dad
Michelle Donna White-Bruntrager
John Samuel Bruntrager

Jack, who at that time could often be found pouring over the Baby Names book, had scripted out his future family! Yep, an even dozen. And, in case you're wondering, the numbers following their names are their ages. Naming other people isn't the extent of his interest. He also has a penchant for inventing alternative names for himself. Two of his more recent and long-standing ones are Il Juuhii Phoret (pronounced Eel YOU-hee Four-EH,) and Zeljixq Noggip Faswilk, pronouncing every letter. Oh, and he also tells me quite often how much he wishes his name were Aaron.

Knowing all the hard work and aggravation kids can deliver, at least they keep us laughing through it all. I actually remember having a list similar to Jack's at some point in my late elementary school years. And, I also made concrete plans more than once to change my name. One of the front runners was "Barbie". As for my future children, my list ironically contained only three girls' names, Abigail Stefania and Christina Lauren (pronounced as in Sophia Loren) among them. Luckily for me, there were Cabbage Patch Dolls. For Jack, it's frogs.